609 BC
[[ስዕል:609B.png|center|800px|thumb|Map 104: 609 BC. Previous map: 630 BC. Next map: 580 BC (Maps Index)]] 609 BC - ASSYRIAN DOWNFALL MAIN EVENTS 626 BC - Independence of Chaldea In 626 BC, Ashur-etil-ilani of Assyria was overthrown by a usurper, Sin-shumu-lishir, who was in turn overthrown later that year by another usurper, Sinsharishkun. At this point Chaldea rebelled and proclaimed Nabopolassar (Nabu-apla-utsur) king of Babylonia. The Assyrians and Babylonians contested Babylonia in a long war, with Nabopolassar's forces taking Babylon in 623 BC and Nippur in 619 BC. 622 BC - Independence of Tartessus In 622 BC, The indigenous Tartessi of Baetia rose up under their leader Arganthonios and drove the Phoenicians out of their country, confining them to Gedir (Cadiz). Sadyattes succeeded Ardys II in Lydia and 621 BC and seized Phrygia, driving out the Scythians and Cimmerians. 616 BC - Independence of Media In 616 BC, the Medes under Cyaxares (Kuwakshatra) overthrew their Scythian overlords and proclaimed independence from Madersland. He expanded Mede control over Iranic tribes to the east as well, and supported Nabopolassar against Assyria. 614 BC - Phocaeans control Sea In 614 BC control of the Sea, and part of Hispania went from Lesbos to the Phocaeans, another Greek state. Arganthonios of Tartessos is said to have welcomed them to Hispania. 612 BC - Fall of Nineveh The forces of Chaldea-Babylonia, Media and Madersland all allied and overran Assyria, laying siege to the capital Nineveh and sacking it in 612 BC. The remnants of the Assyrian army still controlled Harran, and quickly gave the general Ashur-uballit II the title of king of Assyria. However the Babylonians took Harran in 610 BC and pressed them westward. Meanwhile, Necho II succeeded his father Psamtik I as Pharaoh in 610 BC, and led an army north to assist Ashur-uballit. Josiah of Judah tried to block him and was slain at the Battle of Megiddo in 609 BC. Necho II continued on and joined forces with Ashur-uballit in an attempt to retake Harran. Josiah was succeeded by his younger son Jehoahaz. Necho left a detachment with the Assyrians, and on his return march captured Jehoahaz, and installed his elder brother as king Jehoiakim of Judah. These kings evidently did not uphold Judaism or the Laws of Moses in Judah, as had their father Josiah. 610 BC - Madyes killed fighting Sicambria Aventinus relates that Mader (Madyes the Scythian) was finally slain in 610 BC while campaigning in Holland. French accounts place this on the frontlines of Sicambria, where Ambron had followed Agrippa as king in 627 BC. Aventinus roughly assigns the next 110 years, i.e. to 500 BC, to the two kings Brenner II, third son of Ambigot, in Swabia, and Konman or Kekman, son of Sigweis, in Boigeria. Elsewhere however, Aventinus more specifically indicates that the reign of Brenner II (and his queen Thomyris) began in ca. 588 BC. Either way, like his contemporary Arganthonios of Tartessos, Brenner II is said to have enjoyed a full lifespan of 128 years. It is more likely that Ambigot, with his sons, was in some sense the ruler of Madersland in the intervening years, 610-588 BC. Aventinus describes the reigns of Brenner and Konman as a time of conflict between their two successor kingdoms, Swabia and Boigeria, with their boundaries often fluctuating. The British annals have Iago succeeded by Kinmarus, Kinmarcus or Kinfark son of Saisylt in 602 BC, who could well be the same as Konman or Kekman, king of Boigeria. In Eriu, conflict continued between the feuding houses of Eber Finn and Erimon, with Muiredach Bolgrach (Erimon) overthrowing Dui Finn in 626 BC, then Muiredach was overthrown by Enna Derg (Eber Finn) in 625 BC, and he died of plague in 613 BC and was followed by his son Lugaid Iyardon. 609 BC - First Coinage In 609 BC, Alyattes (Walwet) succeeded Sadyattes in Lydia, and issued the first true coins in history, made of electrum and stamped with a crude image of a lion, and his name Walwet Kukalim (Alyattes Gygeid) in alphabetic script. This enhanced the prestige of his regime, and the innovation would spread over the use of plain, unstamped metal weights. Alyattes also continued the Lydian war on the Hellenes of Miletis until 604 BC.